


Finding Appa

by adverbialstarlight



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Adventure, Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Crack, F/M, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Mind/Mood Altering Substances, Plants, Post-Canon, Sokka (Avatar)-centric, This is literally just crack, aka its like hes high but not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-28 01:09:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18201449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adverbialstarlight/pseuds/adverbialstarlight
Summary: Sokka hears that there's some sort of rare, gorgeous flower in the middle of the desert and takes Appa out to find one for Suki. Little does he know that the flower holds a sap that pulls the water from everything that it touches, leaving him in a tired, dazed state that he does not realize he in. When he gets to the nearest village he hears that Appa is missing and, under the influence of the sap, Sokka embarks on a journey to find Appa and bring him home—with Appa in tow.





	Finding Appa

**Author's Note:**

> hello! this 6k piece of crack bs was written for the Avatar Baang and turned out to be exceedingly challenging to write and i'm honestly so glad its done. but it was also super fun!! this was my first ~~and probably only~~ atla fic so hopefully its alright, anyway, enjoy!

Listen, Sokka never meant to end up in this situation—again. His intentions had been good, believe it or not. The only thing was that he had never been one to back away from a challenge, especially one posed by an merchant in Republic City.

Alright, maybe he had pretty much set himself up to get into another completely and utterly stupid situation by engaging with the old lady—merchants were slimy and knew how to pick fights—but it really _was_ for good reason.

He and Aang didn’t have any real purpose to be there for once—it was more of a tourist stop than anything. Usually stops in places such as this included more _work_ reasons, where they had to be professional and diplomatic, where there was no time for fun things like racing down the delivery slides and finding obscure scarves. This was supposed to be a nice reprieve from everything. Chaos-free. Fun. And so naturally, when Sokka caught sight of that tapestry at the woman’s booth—an illustration of a flower with curling petals of deep red speckled with periwinkle—that’s when things began to go downhill rather quickly.

“Woah,” he said, squinting at the tapestry. If Katara were there, she’d probably say something about being shocked that he hadn’t reached out with his _oily fingers_ and touched it, but really all he could do was stare at it. The painting was intricate, the scene painted on it absolutely breathtaking. Sokka had been to many beautiful places in his life, but this—this was something else entirely.

“My daughter painted it herself while traveling through the Si Wong Desert during the war,” the woman behind the table said, a proud smile on her lips.

Sokka nodded. “That’s cool! What’s this flower here called? It’s gorgeous,” Sokka said, nodding and pointing to the aforementioned flower.  
“Incredibly so,” the woman agreed. “It is called a Hydracica. It is a very rare flower, one of the most beautiful in the land but only found in a small number of oases in the Si Wong desert. Though very hard to find, it is known as a symbol of love and loyalty to the one whom it is given to.”

_One of the most beautiful flowers in the land. A symbol of love and loyalty._

The gears in Sokka’s head began to whirl as he stared at the tapestry, eyes going out of focus. Bright red petals. Fiery auburn hair and a fierce smile that he hadn’t seen in so long. He wondered. Perhaps it was cheesy, perhaps she wouldn’t even _want_ it, but…

“Hydracica, huh?” he said distractedly. “That's a pretty name.”

“Yes, indeed,” the woman replied. “I know exactly what you are thinking. You wish to find one for your beloved. You are not the first to think so. Though I must warn you, the Si Wong Desert is vast, and finding the flower may cause some… side effects, if you will. Do you think you are worthy of it? Are you truly willing to pay the price that comes with finding and retrieving a Hydracica?”

Sokka nodded, eyes alight with determination. “Of course I am. I would walk through the entire desert.”

The merchant hummed, crossing her arms. “Alright, very well then. I wish you good fortune on your journey, and I hope for your own sake that this girl is worth it. The weather in Si Wong Desert this time of year is not ideal, you’d best know your way through it.”

He nodded. “She is, thank you very much, ma’am.” He paused, then, “Also, uh, how much would it cost for that tapestry?”

The woman shook her head but smiled.

When Sokka caught up to Aang a few minutes later, the overpriced piece of fabric strapped to his back, he was grinning. Aang turned to him. “Hey, where’d you go? I saw this super cool wind-up monkey thing that screams and plays a little drum, you should’ve seen it.”

Sokka shrugged. “I saw this cool tapestry thing a little ways back there,” he said, gesturing to said tapestry. “It’s kinda dumb but I just… Hey, have you ever heard of a, uh, Hydracica, I think it’s called?”

Aang tilted his head and gave Sokka a strange look. “Um, I think so? It’s either that really pretty flower or a leech that sucks the water out of your skin and lays venom in your pores. I dunno, I never really paid much attention to those kinds of things. Why?”

He said it casually as Sokka’s eyes widened. Of all the strange things he’d encountered, all the weird and obscure plants and animals—this other type of Hydracica sounded to be one of the most terrifying of all. He coughed awkwardly as he felt his face warm, stepping out of the way of a merchant wheeling a large cart of apples and not looking directly at Aang when they fell back into step with each other.

“I uh, I kind of wanted to find one to give to Suki or something. The flower, I mean, not the leech. The lady said that it’s super pretty in real life and somewhere in the Si Wong Desert and I haven’t really seen Suki in a while and it kind of reminds me of her so I—” He cut himself off, sighing and kicking at the dusty ground. “What I mean is, can I maybe uh, borrow Appa for a bit and go find this flower thing? You don’t have to, of course. It’d only take like three days and I’d keep him alive and healthy and I know you probably have better things for him to do but—”

Sokka was cut off by Aang’s nonchalant, “Yeah, sure.” He didn’t even look up from the wind-up monkey in his hand as he said it, simply shrugging as they continued through the market. When he caught Sokka’s startled expression, he raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, of course you can. I trust you to take care of him. Why wouldn’t I? You can even leave tonight if you want to, I was planning to hang around here a bit longer anyway.”

Instead of answering, Sokka threw his arms around Aang’s shoulders. “Oh, thank you so, so much, man. Really. We’ll be back before you know it. Also, uh, can we maybe keep this between us for now? I want to surprise her and I don’t want anyone worrying about me getting any water-sucking leeches.”

Aang shrugged again, but there was a smile on his lips as they continued walking and eventually made their way back to Appa. “No problem. Don’t mention it.”

That night, Sokka hoisted himself into Appa’s saddle, a small bag of supplies and the rolled up tapestry tossed over his shoulder. He looked up at the moon with a small, nostalgic grin. So much had changed since the first time that he’d mounted the sky bison, _he_ had changed so much from those early days, and still here he was going off probably doing something really stupid for Suki that on a more rational and normal day he might not have done. Not that he minded much.

“Appa, yip yip!” Sokka turned and gave Aang a small wave as they ascended, and then they were off, his friend’s amused laughter carried alongside them in the wind.

The Si Wong Desert was, surprisingly, a shorter journey from Republic City than he remembered it to be. It was a quick and easy trip, an enjoyable one as they flew through the clear night. Which is why it made sense that once they made it to the desert, that’s when things really started to get a bit more messy. Getting there hadn’t been difficult—what _was_ difficult was where in the desert to find the flower. The woman had not been wrong, he had forgotten just how _big_ the Si Wong Desert was.

“Huh,” Sokka said aloud, stroking Appa’s fur. “I guess I really should’ve thought of that before we left, huh?” Appa snorted in agreement and he narrowed his eyes. “Oh, be quiet. If Katara were here, she’d probably have a plan. What would Katara do? Pft, probably not go into the desert in the middle of the night to find a flower that might actually be a leech.”

Appa snorted again, and Sokka patted the bison’s head lightly. At least Appa thought he was funny. Probably. Or maybe he was just coughing up a hairball or something. Sokka was going to go with the belief that Appa had an excellent sense of humor. Besides, there was no one else here to tell Sokka that that _wasn’t_ the case, so.

They circled in the sky for a few more minutes before Sokka finally sat up again. “She said they’re found near oases, right?” he exclaimed, despite the fact that the only other living thing there was Appa, who still couldn’t actually _say_ anything. “So let’s look for an oasis, and maybe we can find one there. And there’ll be water there for you too.”

It seemed like a solid plan to him, he was proud of it even. Forget Katara or Toph or any of the others, Sokka could make kickass plans that people would be _super_ impressed by too. Sort of.

As they flew over the desert, stopping at each oasis, Sokka was beginning to realize that, despite being a desert, Si Wong had a _lot_ of oases.

So many that, eventually, after not finding any Hydracica in one particular oasis, instead of getting back onto Appa and moving to find the next one, he just lay there, sighing loudly. It was completely hopeless at this point. The sun was beginning to rise and the wind was picking up, sand coming with it and biting harshly at Sokka’s exposed skin. He was exhausted, and suddenly remembered that the woman had said that it was rare, and he shouldn’t have been expecting to find one of the damn flowers.

Part of him wanted to keep going just out of pure spite. To prove that he _was_ worthy of finding one, that he wasn’t just sappy and stupid for wanting to find a pretty flower for Suki. That she would actually like it and not think him less of a warrior or too soft. But there was another part of him—one that was far louder and far bigger than the other—that said that he should just stay here and sleep instead. Appa was tired, he was tired, nothing was going to get done, especially with the wind really starting to pick up.

And then, as he lay back onto  the sand—he saw it. Beneath one of the larger tree leaves, a flash of red. Sokka blinked furiously, looked down at the ground, and then back to the leaf and the small burst of crimson beneath it. The red spot remained, and with a small spark of hope he realized he was not imagining it.

Could it be—?

No. That wasn’t possible. This stupid Hydracica was _not_ there the entire time, at every single oasis, and simply hiding beneath the brush. Sokka had not traveled so long, searched so hard, paid so goddamn much _money_ for it to—

He sat up and crawled over to the plant, pushing aside the leaf quickly. And there it was. Near identical to the one painted in the tapestry, vibrant and stunning in the morning sun—a Hydracica.

Sokka laughed in disbelief, staring at the flower, then to a now snoring Appa, and back to the Hydracica. “Wh—Oh my god! _Oh my god._ It’s here, I actually found it,” he sputtered, pulling his knife out and trimming the stem. “Take that, stupid merchant lad—”

A thick, searing paste dropped onto his hand, and Sokka hissed as he rubbed it off on his pants. What kind of sap was that? He brushed the thought aside and moved his hold on the stem higher, marveling at the flower instead. Even in a tapestry it looked like something out of a storybook, but here, looking at one with his own two eyes—it was absolutely breathtaking. The merchant might’ve exaggerated the difficulty of navigating the desert, but she sure as hell had not been exaggerating the beauty of this flower. It was absolutely perfect—

Suki would love it.

He grinned and began to stand up, when suddenly the flower moved in his hand. A petal reached out and bit his wrist. For a long moment Sokka didn’t move, staring at the blood that was beginning to surface, the same crimson shade as the now dormant flower petal.

If the bloody marks and cold tingling around them hadn’t been there, he’d have thought that it was just a really weird desert hallucination. There was no way that this flower—a fucking _flower_ for god’s sake—had just _bit him_. Though the Si Wong held some really obscure things in it, carnivorous flowers should not have been one of them.

Suddenly Aang’s words came back to him. _A leech that sucks the water out of your skin and lays venom in your pores._

Sokka paled and he stared down at the flower again. Aang’s memory was not spotty. Not on things like that. So perhaps the flower…

The sap began to ooze from the petals of the Hydracica, dripping onto his arm and the fresh cuts that the sharp… teeth? The flower had _teeth_ , he was not sure how to process this. After a moment, Sokka came to a terrifying realization. “Oh my god, the flower is a leech,” he breathed.

He felt a heavy cloud come over his mind then, something warm and suffocating. It came so suddenly that the air was knocked from his lungs, all panic leaving with it, until all Sokka could feel was the strange, tingly warmth that was suppressing his thoughts.

And then everything went dark.

Something was not right when Sokka woke again. He wasn’t sure what, exactly, but there was an uncomfortable edge to his thoughts, to his mind and eyes — basically everything else.

The sun was nearly at its peak now, and he and Appa had somehow ended up in the shade of the trees. In his hand was the Hydracica, completely still and dormant.

Sokka snorted. How could he possibly think that it had been trying to _attack_ him last night? It made no sense. He shook the sand from his hair and began to stand up. Immediately, he stumbled and tried to steady himself against Appa as the landscape around him began to morph and spin, like a kaleidoscope or that scary owl thing that had been in the library on the other side of the desert.

Appa’s fur was surprisingly hard and rough as Sokka patted it, and… Perhaps he didn’t have the best vision in the world, and he certainly didn’t forget what his friends looked like, but Appa’s fur almost looked gray as stone.

A frantic thought flitted through Sokka’s mind. Had Appa turned into a rock overnight? Had he decided to go back to Aang, leaving Sokka only with some sort of boulder? But it didn’t make any sense. Appa would never. Where even _was_ he right now?

Appa let out a huff, except it didn’t come from Appa, but rather from somewhere behind Sokka. He turned and came face-to-nose with the sky bison and jumped back, crashing into what was indeed a rock.

“Huh?” Sokka said. “Appa, what—you were literally just—huh?” He sighed, shaking his head as he crouched back down to open his bag. Perhaps it was time to get back and the heat was starting to get to him. Super hot and dry had never been his favorite climate, and the sooner they got back to wherever the nearest town was, the sooner he could see Suki. “Wait,” he said aloud, pausing. “I _am_ going to Suki and bringin’ her this, right? But I don’t even know where the hell I am! I’m going to die out here and never see her again!”

Appa growled.

Sokka took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, you’re right,” he said. Aang was the only one who could fully understand the grunts and growls—it probably kind of came with being his master or whatever—but Sokka was confident that he knew _exactly_ what Appa was trying to communicate right now. “We’ll get to the town and it’ll all be fine. We’ve got no stars or anything but—”

Appa growled again, this time with a bit more of annoyance in it.

“Sheesh, no need for an attitude, man,” Sokka said. “I’m just throwing out—Oh! We can just fly and use a map. I’m so smart.” He ignored when Appa growled again, instead dropping the Hydracica into his bag and going over to climb back onto the harness. Once settled, he opened his mouth to give Appa the signal but stopped short. It wasn’t _yee haw_ or _yip yop_ , he was pretty sure. But what if it _was_?

“Yee haw. Yeet yaw. Yeep yip. Yoppity yip yip. _Appa,_ c’mon please just go.”

He fell backwards and sighed, closing his eyes against the bright sun. It was somewhere in his brain, he had heard Aang say it a million times—had said it himself a million times—but he just couldn’t seem to remember it. And where the fuck was Appa? Sokka sat up again then down. He let out a short, dry snort and ran his fingers through Appa’s fur. Of course he was here. Why was it so hard for Sokka to form a coherent thought right now?

The sun must’ve been getting to him. A nap could fix that though, after all, finding one of the rarest most valued flowers in the Si Wong made him _very_ deserving of a little more rest. And even if Katara would disagree, well she wasn’t here now. No one would need to know. If he just closed his eyes for a little while…

“I’ll figure it out eventually,” Sokka mumbled, words slurring as his eyelids became heavy again. Just a quick nap wouldn’t do any harm, right?

It wouldn’t have, if he’d actually followed through with that. When he awoke again, it was beginning to grow dark, and now it was Appa who wanted to sleep. They would be able to go in the morning, which would be fine. Sokka wasn’t entirely sure how long they’d already been out here, but there was still time. There was nothing rushing them except Sokka’s own impatience to see Suki, and there wasn’t much to be done about that now. When they were able to, they would get there, and that’s what mattered.

Well, that’s what Sokka tried to tell himself anyway.

As Appa snored loudly from a few feet away, Sokka twirled the Hydracica between his fingers, studying the flower the best that he could in the dim light. The moon shone brighter out here than it did in the cities, just enough that he could see the speckles and the particular thorn that he’d ridiculously thought _bit_ him the previous night. He was nibbling on a piece of cheese that tasted and felt suspiciously like sandstone. It was probably the desert messing with his taste buds though, so he endured.

To keep himself distracted from the urge to spit it out, Sokka let his thoughts wander back to Suki. He wasn’t sure where exactly she’d be right now, what she was doing and who she’d be with, but he hoped she was doing good. They tried to see each other as often as they could, but with their constant respective missions that took them to places in opposite directions, it could be kind of hard. And quite frankly, Sokka was kind of clingy and really wanted to see her more often than not.

He tried to picture it in his mind, what they would do after he and Appa got back to the city. Katara or Toph would probably know where she was, they would tell Sokka where to catch her next and he’d surprise her with the Hydracica. She would be surprised and probably smile at him or scold him for going so far out of his way for her. He would tuck the flower behind her ear and tell her how much he missed her. If she wanted to, she would kiss him on the cheek and they’d hug, then maybe Sokka would stay for dinner before going off to wherever he was needed again. They wouldn’t see each other for a while afterwards but it would be okay, because Suki would keep the flower and be reminded every time she looked at it of Sokka, and every time Sokka looked up at the stars he would think of her. It would be perfect and romantic and Sokka couldn’t wait for it.

After a little while he drifted off as well, the thought fresh and warm in his mind. As he went, the Hydracica petal morphed and another slug like creature slithered off, attaching to Sokka’s wrist. By morning it was gone, fat and slow with warm, new blood of an unaware human boy pulsing through it.

When Sokka finally remembered the takeoff command—of _course_ it was yip yip—and he and Appa made it to the nearest town, Sokka felt great. Mostly. Maybe his head felt light and there was a dizzy bounce to his step. Everything seemed more vibrant and bright, the usual sounds of cursing and yelling and laughing like music. But they were going to get there, Suki would love the damn flower and Sokka fucking knew it. He just fucking knew it. And if he was wrong and she didn’t—well, first of all, why would she?—he would probably cry. Why, though, Sokka wasn’t entirely sure. He just knew that he would.

But how could she _not_ like it, when it was so beautiful and she was so beautiful and—

A large poster tacked to a cart selling radishes caught Sokka’s eye, and he ignored the indignant shouts from other customers as he dragged Appa through the crowd and towards it. On any other day, he would have left the sky bison out of the way, but he couldn’t bring it to do so now. Appa was a person too, wasn’t he? And he deserved to see and experience the joy of walking through a busy marketplace on a beautiful day just as much as Sokka did. It would be cruel if he’d just left Appa there.

They approached the sign and Sokka let out a gasp, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. It was a sketch of Sokka and Appa, with the word MISSING beneath it. The writing was obviously that of his sister’s, so it obviously couldn’t just be a joke. He and Appa were missing. Wait. But Sokka was right here, so _he_ wasn’t, but Appa was. His head begun to spin a bit—more than it had been for the past few hours—as he turned to face Appa.

“You’re missing, buddy,” he exclaimed. Appa said nothing. “This is kinda serious you know. Oh man, we’ve got to go find you, c’mon. I don’t know how much time we’ll have.” Sokka turned away from the poster, staggering towards the exit of the market. Appa was missing, this wasn’t good. They had to go find him, what if he’d been kidnapped again? Appa _was_ pretty good at getting kidnapped.

Appa grunted and followed along, knocking over a vegetable stand as he went. Sokka ignored the man’s wail and continued on, ignoring the small voice in the back of his voice that sounded eerily like Katara telling him to stop. That there was something not quite right about this and that he should think it through a bit before just going off. But contrary to his sister’s belief, there wasn’t always time to do that. This was one of those times.

“Yip yip!” he said, taking in a deep breath as they launched into the sky. For just a little bit, Suki could wait a bit longer; Aang had trusted Sokka with Appa, his fucking Avatar animal guide, and Sokka had lost him. But that meant that now it was up to him to get Appa back.

Eventually they came back to that town, ripped down the poster and took it to a copy shop. The woman working there had looked incredulous when he’d dropped it in front of her. she looked from the poster to Sokka to Appa and then back to the poster. “Is this a joke?” she eventually asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sokka crossed his arms. A moment later he winced from the small sting to his head that came with the movement. He really should have gotten some water earlier. “What do you mean is this a joke? My friend’s freaking _animal guide_ is missing. Does that sound like a damn joke to you, because it’s not to me. He could be anywhere right now, you know,” he said in his best Katara voice.

“Uh huh, alright,” the woman said. “You got a preferred payment method then?”

Two hours and a few more odd looks later, they were back in the air. Sokka was sitting on the posters as Appa flew to the next town, squinting out towards the desert. He was blindly digging around his bag for some more food that he had gotten from the last town, but instead of a piece of bread or fruit, he pulled out the Hydracica again. After a moment of internal debate, Sokka pulled the flower out of the bag slightly, touching the petals again gently. It seemed to have one less petal than the last time, down to six instead of seven, but the dropped petal didn’t seem to be anywhere in the bag. It was fine though, there were still several of them.

Some more of the sap dripped onto Sokka’s fingers and he dropped the flower again to wipe his fingers on his pants. “Ugh, gross,” he muttered. It was a really gorgeous flower, don’t get him wrong, but it was also kind of gross and messy.

When they landed only a few minutes later, Sokka immediately got to work. He tacked the posters to every available space, ignoring the giggles and curious looks he got, his own expression solemn. Even if Appa wouldn’t be here, at least there would be awareness. Afterall, Appa was the animal guide of the Avatar, people would want to help out in looking for him.

After the streets were entirely covered in the posters, Sokka guided Appa back out of the town with a small smile—and a new wide rimmed hat that a nice old lady had given him for whatever reason—and they took off for the next town.

They put the posters up in the next three towns. In each another petal fell off the flower, but Sokka hardly noticed. Nor did he notice that the looks he received became wider and more amused as he continued on. Appa went in with him on all of them, Sokka was still determined and not letting him be lonely waiting outside. No one was hostile and left him alone and he truly believed that he was helping in finding Appa again.

“Aha!” Sokka muttered as he tacked up the last of his current stack of posters. “And what are _you_ doing to help, Katara?” he muttered to himself before stepping back to admire his work. “I think we’re good here, what do you think, Appa?” He waited for a moment, but after realizing that the sky bison was probably not going to say anything, patted him on the head. “Alright, that’s chill. Let’s go.”

It only took an hour or so of flying before they were in the next town. There was some sort of celebration going on, the drums loud and the colors bright. As they landed, Sokka’s head spun, but he got off anyway.

“Welcome!” called a man by the stone gates. “Come and celebrate the achievements of the Avatar!” He wore a bright blue tunic and brown trousers, looking like a super weirdly pale Waterbender. It was odd to see here and his attire seemed way more costume like than any Waterbender Sokka had ever seen, and it was _really_ weird since he was in the middle of the goddamn desert, but perhaps he shouldn’t have judged. Zuko wore weird shit in the middle of a desert all the time.

And the man had said they were celebrating the Avatar, which was Aang. If Appa would go anywhere, it’d be to Aang, right? It wouldn’t hurt to just look in there, right? Sokka started towards it, almost making it before something gave a pull and stopped him. Appa was not moving, stubbornly remaining where he was and clearly not giving a shit about Sokka’s eagerness to go in.

“Appaaa, come on,” Sokka said. “I know you don’t really like crowds but can we just look for a minute?” Appa grunted. “Aww, don’t be like that. Please?”

“Uh, is your… polar bear alright?”

Sokka spun around, his eyes widening when he recognized the two girls standing a little bit away, both staring at him in concern. Sure, Katara looked a little bit taller and her hair was darker, but Sokka would recognize his sister anywhere. And Toph too. Katara was in her usual periwinkle dress, hair drawn back with the two weird bead things in the front, a frown on her lips. Yeah, definitely Katara.

“Katara!” he practically shouted. He tried to run over to them but ended up tripping, completely forgetting that he was still tethered to Appa. Not bothering to get off the ground, Sokka continued, “Thank god you’re here. You’ve gotta help us find Appa. Aang is going to be _pissed_ when he finds out I lost him, doesn’t matter that we’re, like, brothers-in-law and stuff. I lost his freaking _Avatar guide animal thing_. Appa and I have looked everywhere but I dunno where he went.”

There was a moment of silence then, Katara and Toph not moving for a moment. And then Toph said, “Uh, I’ll go get help. This guy’s clearly gone a bit crazy in the desert, bet it was that weird cactus juice that everyone’s been talking about.” Katara nodded to Toph, whose eyes were focused as she saluted before turning to head back into town.

“Wait a minute,” Sokka mumbled aloud. That was not a Toph thing to do at all. She’d tell him to get his ass off the ground and stop being an idiot or something. And since when could she _see_? This was making no sense at all.

Katara squatted down next to him, pressing a hand lightly to Sokka’s forehead. “Do you need any water or something?” she asked. “It seems like it’s been a while since you’ve been back somewhere for like, a shower or something.”

Sokka stared blankly at his sister. The longer he watched her, the more un-Katara like she became. Her eyes were darker, her skin lighter, and the necklace around her throat missing. He reached up with a hand that seemed to be detached from his body and slurred out, “Hey, where’d your necklace go? I coulda sworn you were still wearing that thing, And why can Toph like actually _see_ now, what the fuck dude.”

“Hey, watch it, man,” Katara snapped. He couldn’t see very well and everything was looking kind of bright right now and he _really_ wanted to laugh for some reason, but Sokka was pretty damn sure that she was glaring at him. Ah, classic Katara.

But maybe not. The more he thought about it, the less it made sense. She didn’t have that weird mole under her left eye either, the fuck? And there was _no_ reason at all that she’d take off that necklace, he should have known. Suddenly Sokka gasped, it all made sense. “You aren’t Katara!” he exclaimed, eyes wide. Behind him, Appa huffed, but neither Sokka nor definitely-not-Katara paid it any mind. “Where’s the real Katara?”

“Woah, I think there was really something that messed with your head,” the girl said, taking a small step back. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “D’you know where you are? Who you are?”

Sokka nodded vigorously. “Yeah, I mean _obviously._ I’m Sokka. And you’re not Katara!”

Not-Katara sighed. “Oh my god,” she muttered under her breath. “ _No_ , I’m not. This is just a festival, dude. Haven’t you been to one of those before? And I don’t really know any Kataras so…”

Her tone was snarky, and it made Sokka’s blood boil for whatever reason. He stood up on shaky legs and stumbled forward. “Listen here, you water-bender wannabe—”

Before he could say anything else, Toph came running back. Though if this girl was here impersonating Katara, this probably wasn’t Toph either. She was with—Toph and Katara. Sokka blinked furiously. Yeah, these two new people were his Toph and Katara. Or were they? He wasn’t entirely sure. He needed a fucking nap.

“Sokka,” Katara number two said, quickening her pace. She stepped forward, and this one actually _did_ look like Katara. Same dumb hair, same stupid concern and necklace. But he didn’t want to make the assumption again, anything could happen around here it seemed. Bite-y flowers, two Kataras—could it get any weirder? “Oh don’t give me that look, what the hell happened to you?” she demanded.

Sokka shrugged, groping for his bag against the dirt for a moment and let out a small “aha!” when he found it. He pulled out the hydracica, somehow still bright and vibrant and not looking completely crushed in his bag after so many days. With a grin, Sokka held it out into Katara’s face. “I found it,” he announced.

“It’s… a flower,” Katara said, clearly underwhelmed. “You disappeared for a while for _this_? I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s very pretty but… seriously? Why’d you even get it?”

“Well you see, this lady had this super cool tapestry when I was in the city with Aang and I—the flower, the hydricica, it reminded me of Suki and I wanted to get it for her,” Sokka began, waving his hands to the flower. This time when he stared at it, none of the petals bit his hand, thank god. “It’s super rare in the desert or something but super cool and I wanted to get her one, so yeah,” he finished lamely. “Aang said the Hydracica was a leech thing, but this was just a flower. Gonna give it to her and she’s gonna love it. Either that, or she’s gonna fucking hate it and I’ll cry but yeah, not the point.”

Katara snorted, though she seemed less likely to kick him for disappearing now. Sokka watched her hand unconsciously go to her necklace, a small smile on her lips. “And to think that once upon a time, _I_ was the sappy one, huh?” she said.

From beside her, Not-Toph gasped, backing away. “Oh,” she said. “It makes sense now. The Avatar was correct, somewhat. As are you. The Hydracica is a very beautiful flower, yes, though it is also a very dangerous parasitic organism that dehydrates its victims. Think of it like a Venus Fly Trap.”

Sokka dropped the flower quickly, his eyes bulging. “ _What?_ ”

“It must have bitten your friend at some point,” Not-Toph continued on. “I’d assume this… confusion is a part of the symptoms the victims of the flower might experience. My suggestion is to get rid of it and get him somewhere to rest for a while until he’s feeling okay again. My guess is that he hasn’t really slept in the past few days and will be reaching his exhaustion point very soon.”

Real Toph sighed, speaking for the first time. “Of course he did. Let’s get him back, Katara.”

Sokka began to shake his head as his Katara and Toph began to pick him up, thanking Not-Toph. “Woah, woah, wait,” he said. “But—the flower—Suki—” He reached out weakly for the flower, but he was already being lifted and headed towards town. Before Sokka could say anything else, everything went dark.

When Sokka awoke, it was with the absolute _worst_ headache that he’d ever experienced in his life. Now, Sokka wasn’t unused to being thrown around by big and powerful bad guys like a ragdoll and so he knew about sore muscles from being tossed into a pillar, but this was something else.

He cracked his eyes open to a plain wall made of bamboo. The room was not brightly lit, but there was still enough sunlight coming through the stalks to see where he was. There was nothing but the heavily cushioned mat that he was laying on and a small folding table to his left, on top of it a small porcelain vase with a vibrant red flower in it. And, of course, Suki leaning on the wall to the right of Sokka’s mat asleep. Wait.

Quickly Sokka tried to sit up, but it only resulted in a fit of wheezing and coughing that felt like there was sand in his lungs. What the hell had happened? The last that he could remember, Sokka was still in the desert with Appa. They’d found the Hydracica, but things got a bit hazy after that.

Suki startled awake from Sokka’s outburst and was quickly scooting over to fill the glass with more water. Once he calmed a bit, Suki smiled, crossing her arms. “Hey,” she said casually. Her usual makeup and uniform was absent and there was nothing to hide the fondness in her eyes. “Heard that you went on quite an adventure in the Si Wong for me.”

“What—” Sokka began, but he halted midsentence.

A hazy memory of being bitten by the flower. Dragging Appa through several towns and putting up missing signs for him. The Katara and Toph dopplegangers.

He bent forward again and put his head in his hands, groaning. “Oh my god,” he muttered. “Oh my god. _Why_.”

Suki’s laugh was like bells, and despite his complete humiliation, Sokka felt the intense jolt of butterflies in his chest. “No, no, I thought it was sweet of you,” she said quietly. Sokka looked up and was paralyzed once again as their eyes met, but allowed a small, fond smile of his own begin to grow.

“I mean, going into the desert impulsively to go after a weird mythical flower that actually ended being a weird leech that your sister had to drain most of the water from wasn’t really the smartest idea, but…” Suki leaned forward until their noses were brushing. “That’s why I love you,” she finished, the words a whisper against Sokka’s lips. “Even if you can sometimes be an idiot who needs to be a bit more careful around leech flowers.”

In the vase by Sokka’s bed mat, the Hydracica sat dormant but magnificent even inside. For all the beauty and effort that it took to get it—some of that effort, Sokka hadn’t even realized he had made—he knew that it still was not the most beautiful and rare sight to behold in the entire world like the merchant had said. No, that was right in front of him now in the form of his wonderful girlfriend, who was infinitely better than any leech flower could ever be.

**Author's Note:**

> shout out to my betas, [Echosong](https://echosong-writer.tumblr.com) and [Nyctolovian](https://nyctolovian.tumblr.com) for keeping this from being too much of a hot mess and to my artists, [totesunrepentant](https://totesunrepentant.tumblr.com) and [greeninkpenguin](https://greeninkpenguin), for making gorgeous art for it. you can find their pieces here and [here](http://greeninkpenguin.tumblr.com/post/183672777630). yall are amazing, thank you. i am also on [tumblr](http://adverbialstarlight.tumblr.com) and


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